Magical Girl Pretty Helga
by MuseX3
Summary: If only her love for Arnold was the only secret Helga had to worry about! After unknowingly unleasing a chaotic force upon the world, Helga is charged with restoring order. Can you say 'frilly skirt? sorry for bad summary
1. Chapter 1

Magical Girl Pretty Helga

By MuseX3 --Melete-Mneme-Aoede--

Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold! though I do have TiVo and the Nicktoon channel so I can record the episodes that they show at 4 in the morning. Why they play it then, I have no idea.

Authors note: This is my first HA! Fic but I think I've read plenty of other ones. This story was actually inspired by 'Pink Thunder of PS118' by Zukone, kind of. That story got my thinking, besides needing to go back to kendo club, about an anime/ HA! Cross over that wouldn't actually need an anime – in a sense, if HA! was an anime. Enjoy.

Chapter 1: Release

The sun was shinning, birds singing their tiny hearts out, and one little girl watched it all from her bedroom window. She scowled. "Why does it _have_ to be such a beautiful morning _outside_?" She grumbled as a small bird landed next to her on the window sill and chirped merrily. The girl turned her head sharply and gave the creature such a glare that it jumped backwards with thin legs off the sill and almost forgot how to fly. "Yeah, you better run!" The girl shouted after the bird. Why she was yelling at a poor, defenseless bird could be anybody's guess but the other feathered music-makers in the area quickly took flight. The girl huffed and slammed her window closed. She had almost forgotten the reason that she opened the window in the first place. Almost.

A cry from downstairs was quickly followed by the lights shutting off. Shouts erupted from under the girl's feet along the lines of "Idiot", "my coffee", and "blown fuse." Now she remembered.

The girl pulled on her backpack and opened the window once again. Slowly, she climbed backwards out the opening, her foot wiggling around, searching for the fire escape ladder. Once firmly footed, as well as one can be on an iron rod held up with a few choice bolts could be, the girl slid her window closed and proceeded down the ladder. She had to jump the last five feet to the ground and landed less than gracefully in the alleyway. The girl stood up quickly and shook her head to recover. She glanced at the watch on her wrist and frowned yet again. "Great, I broke it." She hurried off to the bus stop but to no avail. The bus was already in the stream of mild traffic and didn't look to be re-stopping to pick up this one passenger. Clenching a fist as well as her teeth the girl started running towards her school.

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She found the hallway empty and threw her hands in the air out of frustration. She had run the entire way to school and was _still_ tardy. Too tired to stomp out her anger, the girl simply walked to her classroom and flung open the door. The teacher jumped slightly at the noise but quickly recovered and smiled.

"How good of you to join us, Helga," Mr. Simmons greeted the girl. "We were just about to give up hope on you." The girl rolled her eyes as the teacher continued. "Care to tell us why you were late?"

"Power went out and couldn't tell what time it was," She huffed the partial truth while making her way to the back row to sit in her usual seat. She stopped in the middle of the aisle and looked at the full row. Her eyes fell on Phoebe who simply shrugged apologetically. Groaning, Helga turned around and plopped into the only open seat – front row, in front of Arnold. She was worn out and was thankful for the rest.

"Um, Helga?" the boy behind to her began.

"What?" Helga spat coldly.

"You… you're still wearing your backpack." Arnold pointed out innocently. Helga leaned forward and threw the bag to the floor. She was wondering what that thing poking her in the back was.

"Alright class," Mr. Simmons said happily while clasping his hands together, "I hope you all remembered to finish your 'special' homework assignments. Please pass them to the front and I'll collect them." Students fumbled around in bags and folders and pulled out the bookwork. It had been a fairly large assignment and Mr. Simmons had given them three days to finish it.

Arnold took the papers from behind him and placed his own on the stack. He gave the pile a little tap to straighten it out and held it out for Helga to take. The student in front of him didn't notice and reached for the bag she had tossed not to long ago. "Helga." He said, waving the papers slightly.

"Hold your horses, football-head!" Helga retorted and pulled her backpack into her lap. She froze, remaining completely still for a moment before frantically rummaging a hand inside the open pack. "Criminy!" She growled and threw her bag again. She grabbed her head so fiercely that her nails dug into her scalp.

"Is something the matter, Helga?" Mr. Simmons asked. The class eyed the girl in front carefully. "Do you forget to bring your homework today?"

Helga snorted and released her head. "Something like that," She slumped back hard into her chair, nudging Arnold's desk slightly in the process.

"Oh, well, you can still turn it in for partial credit tomorrow," Mr. Simmons smiled sympathetically and took the pile of assignments. Class proceeded with its normal 'special' excitement, meaning, of course, that half the students weren't paying attention. Some had their books out, pretending to be following along and turning a page whenever the chorus of flipping was heard, but most just sat at their desks with boredom written clearly on their face. Soon, perhaps from the constant wishing of the students, the recess bell rang.

Phoebe had been asked to play four-square with Gerald and several other kids. She was hesitant at first, since the offer hadn't been extended to her friend sitting beside her, but Helga shook her head and nudged the Asian girl forward. "Go ahead, Pheebs," Helga said while waving her hand. "I don't feel like doing anything anyways." So, Phoebe left to go play with the other kids. At last alone, Helga lay back on the concrete steps and looked at the clear sky. Her eyes narrowed slowly into a scowl and she frowned. "Stupid…"she mumbled and closed her eyes, the scowl still in place.

Across the blacktop, Arnold had just gotten kicked out of the server square for hitting a line and made his way to the back of the line as everyone rotated positions. He looked over at the school and frowned slightly at Helga being all alone. He had heard what she said to Phoebe, engorging her to go off and play. He wondered if she really didn't want to play. The others were busy bouncing the ball back and forth again and didn't notice him jog over to the bully.

"Hey Helga," He greeted once he was close enough and was rewarded with a glare.

"What do you want, football-head?" She sighed, not bothering to sit up and returned her gaze to the happy weather.

"Well, I wanted to know if you wanted to play four-square with us..." Once again, a glare met his eyes and he shrunk back slightly.

Helga struggled to keep her glare, but it softened and she turned away. "No, that's alright Arnold," she sighed, a frown still on her face.

"Well, okay," Arnold replied as he headed back to the game, "if you're sure."

Normally, Helga would have gone into a poetic rant about her loving, caring, Arnold, but she didn't quite feel like it today. She turned her head and found Brainy looking at her next to the steps expectantly. "What?" Helga snapped bitterly. The boy let out a depressed, wheezing sigh and walked away – incomplete from the lack of poetry and back-handing.

The students filed back into class reluctantly and glanced at the assignment on the board. "Poetry? Again!" Rhonda scoffed. "Practically everyday the same thing; we write poems and Mr. Simmons only reads from 'Anonymous'." She plopped down in her seat quickly and gracefully as she continued her ranting. "I'm beginning to think that _he_ is Anonymous and uses us as poem beta-readers or something." A few kids nodded in agreement – Mr. Simmons sure did love poetry.

Students slid out sheets of paper and waited for the suggested topic – funny how Anonymous never wrote the suggested topic. "Today, since it is so beautiful outside, I thought it would be special to write about nature." The students sighed and scratched their heads in thought. The teacher looked around the room with a smile but stopped on Helga.

The girl looked up and gave a half-hearted smirk. "I don't have any paper or junk like that with me so I guess I can't do the assignment, right?"

"Nonsense!" Mr. Simmons said cheerfully, too cheerfully, and handed the young blonde a sheet of lined paper and a pen. "You really should remember to bring all of your school supplies." Helga gave a small, irritated nod and rolled her eyes. A poem on nature?

Helga sighed and set her borrowed pen to paper. She wrote a line, then scribbled it out and tried again but that line proved to be unacceptable as well. By the fourth scribble on her paper, Helga was about to give up – she just couldn't write today. Her eyes skimmed the paper and she blinked. Several letters could be read clearly from the black cross-hatching. The girl shrugged and wrote out each letter in order; who knew; maybe it would provide some poetic inspiration. She looked at the odd word and mumbled it to herself, "_Erisnuktor_…" Her eyes glazed a little and her head drooped. Shaking her head slightly, inspiration hit Helga like a freight train as she scratched word after word onto the paper. She wasn't stopping to think about the next line, just wrote letter after letter like someone was dictating to her.

She finished and set the pen down just as Mr. Simmons called out,"Times up." Some kids groaned while others struggled to find a finishing rhyme. "Would anyone like to share theirs?" He looked around the room and smiled widely. "Go ahead, Helga."

Helga rolled her eyes, she never volunteered and she definitely didn't this time. She did a double take and starred at her arm in disbelief at its position in the air. She didn't remember doing that. Her blue eyes darted around the room at the expectant faces of her peers and teacher. She growled slightly and stood up. "This is called, 'Release'." She paused for a moment; she hadn't titled it yet…

"'_Fear, Panic, break the bonds!_

_Come out again at last._

_Bring the Night one-thousand strong;_

_Your goal again us vast._

_Chaos sleeps, but not for long,_

_Ring Her waking bell._

_Leave that place, you have been wronged,_

_And make this World a hell.'"_

Helga blinked and looked closely at her paper. That was what it said alright, but it was so… not her! Even when she took that 'out-of-love' potion her poems weren't THIS weird. She looked up from her paper at the teacher and the other students. Helga scowled. "I hate nature and didn't feel much like stringing together some lame poem about the stupid façade the world puts up, okay?" She plopped down in her chair once again and studied her poem. Why were so many words capitalized?

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Dark clouds rolled over the sky and blocked out the sun. Helga smiled in triumph at the bleak display from the top of the steps – finally, the day matched her mood! She felt a wetness on her head, then another on her shoulder. More droplets tumbled downwards and stung her skin – it was raining now. "About time the world dropped that happy mask," she mumbled as she headed off for home.

Helga reached a corner and checked for traffic before stepping off the curb into the wet street. A horn blared repeatedly in her ears when she was only halfway across. The girl looked up with only enough time to dive out of the path of a spinning car which missed her but slammed heavily into a parked car. Helga scrambled to the sidewalk and looked around – that car had come out of nowhere! The driver shook his head and tried to open his door only to find it pinned against the non-occupied car so he climbed over and got out the passenger side. He seemed alright.

Helga let out a shaky breath as she continued down the sidewalk cautiously. She passed two more accidents and had been splashed by four cars by the time she reached her house. Having forgotten her house key, the blonde dragged a trash can to the base of the fire escape ladder and climbed on top of it. Her hands gripped the slippery metal rung and she hauled herself up for the next rung, then the next, then anything! Helga lost her grip and slid off the ladder, crashing into the trashcan and spilling garbage into the wet alley. The world spun around her as she lay in the trash and her focus slipped in and out.

Then she saw something very odd that she could not recognize. It was a person – kind of – with swirling black flesh with streaks of white and blue. Its hands were long and its head pointed back like a fin. The knees went backwards, giving it an evil chicken look. The figure perked up its head and looked down at Helga with piercing, white, glowing eyes. Helga jerked upright and everything cleared. The figure was gone. She looked around desperately but couldn't find anyone, or anything, that resembled what she saw.

She shook her head and dismissed it – she had hit her head after all, why wouldn't she be seeing things? Helga scrapped most of the garbage back into the can and slammed the lid on. She was still mad about that morning. It occurred to her then that both of her parents' cars were gone so she would be home alone. "Good," she sneered and kicked something. Her eyes widened in recognition as the soaked object slammed into the brick wall. "So _that's_ where my homework went…" Helga grabbed what she could find of her school supplies and walked in the unlocked front door. "Probably Miriam that left last," she reasoned as she headed to the bathroom to blow-dry her text books.

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A/N: I wanted to keep going, but this is getting kind of long. Chapter 2 is coming soon though – I work on my fanfics during lunch break at work (wink). Chapter 2 will get into the Magical Girl aspect, trust me, it will be fun.


	2. Responsibility

Magical Girl Pretty Helga

By MuseX3 --Melete-Mneme-Aoede--

Disclaimer:_ see chap 1_

Authors note: Sorry, meant to upload sooner but I've been swamped with essays for school and AMVs for an upcoming anime convention. ; Its all good now though, right?

Chapter 2: Responsibility

The next morning wasn't nearly as cheerful as the last but Helga was in considerably higher spirits. The night before she had a pizza and took a hot bath – plus, she hadn't seen Bob or Miriam since yesterday morning. They had probably gone on a business trip or something and forgot about Helga. It happened from time to time. The school bus broke down a block from school but its riders made still made it on time for class. Helga burst into the classroom with her usual smirk but it quickly fell at the scene.

Several students were bruised and bandaged but they didn't matter – Phoebe had her leg in a cast. Last time that happened, it was Helga's fault and even though the bully had nothing to do with this break, she couldn't shake the awkward feeling that she caused it.

"Man, Pheebs, what happened?" Helga asked as she rushed over.

The Asian girl looked up at her friend, then turned away in embarrassment. "The bookcase on the upstairs landing fell over and it startled me. I jumped back and, coincidently, fell down the stairs. I am still uncertain of what caused the bookcase to fall, but this injury is my own doing." Phoebe looked up at Helga's worried face. "It looks worse than it is – honestly! – it's more of a fracture than an actual break."

Helga nodded slowly and sat down at her rightful desk, She began telling Phoebe about her near car accident when another student entered the room with a wrapped and swollen hand. "Arnold! What happened man?" Gerald asked while getting up from his seat.

"I smashed my hand in my automatic couch," Arnold smiled at his own clumsiness and titled his head. He gave a small laugh. "All those years of working perfectly and it waits until test week to wreck my writing hand. I suppose I'm lucky, really. Now I can have some more study time." The boys laughed lightly and sat down. Helga looked intently at Arnold, but averted her eyes shamefully as he looked at her. There it was again – that feeling of guilt. 'I didn't do anything, I know I didn't. I didn't knock over Phoebe's book case or slip Arnold's hand in the path of his closing couch – those were accidents and I wasn't even there – so why do I feel responsible?'

Class began shortly after. Mr. Simmons' chalk kept breaking, making the new edge squeak against the black board. At one point in the day, a bird flew into the glass window pane and snapped its frail neck sending a gloomy mood over the fourth graders. The students did their work half-heartedly as the day crept by. Recess was cold, lunch was terrible, and the power went out. Principal Wartz went from class to class, sending the children home and promising that all of the circuits would be fixed for class the next morning.

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Helga placed her hands on her hips and looked around. The only thing in sight was a white, columned temple peaking out from behind the rolling mist. The girl made her way over to the building with a shrug; what else was she supposed to do here? Helga's bare feet echoed over the granite tile softly as she walked around the single-room, it was empty save for a large alter dish at its center with a fire burning inside.

"This is a very strange dream," Helga mumbled to herself, "There's no Arnold, criminy!"

At that moment, the fire blazed intimidatingly high, startling Helga and sending her back a step. A figure formed out of the flames: a woman in a white toga and a flowing, silver stolla. The fire died down and the woman turned her pure white eyes onto the young girl as red, wavy hair danced around her face and down her back like the fire that burned in her place moments before. "My name is Moirai, the Keeper of Gates."

Helga stared at her for a long time. Had she eaten something weird before bed? Was that microwave Mexican TV dinner too spicy? She felt compelled to talk to this woman. "I'm Helga."

Moirai's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked down at the girl. "It was _you_ who broke the seal and released them?" Helga's eyes widened slightly as she remembered her poem from the other day, '_break the bonds'_. The woman shook her head and started again. "To think that one so young could have discovered the chant to release the Nyxon and survive." She stepped off the alter, the fire popping back into place, and studied Helga. "For what reason did you free them? Has the Cult of Discord been revived?"

"Look lady," Helga huffed while poking Moirai in the chest, "all I did was write and read some weird poem in school that I made up from some random letters, okay? Lay off! And what the heck is a Nyxon anyways?"

Moirai looked relieved, despite having just been yelled at by a 4th grader, and smiled at Helga. "A Nyxon is a creature of darkness with the soul purpose of wreaking chaos. They are the Minions of Eris." Helga's eyes widened again – was it a Nyxon she had seen yesterday?

"They had been sealed up long ago, as had their mistress, but you broke that seal and opened the gate to your world for them. You must amend this mistake."

"Oh yeah? And how am I supposed to do that?" Helga threw her hands into the air. "Why don't _you_ go get rid of them since you know so much?"

"If I was able, do you not think I would have already done so instead of explaining all this to you?" She replied coolly. "I am not permitted to leave this realm, to do so would break all the seals and open every gate and there are much worse beings trapped within than Nyxon – of that I assure you." Her stolla twisted around her arms as she spoke. "All that I can do about this matter is bestow upon the breaker of the seal the ability to defeat and reseal those which she has released."

"Come again?"

"I can grant you the power to vanquish the Nyxon from your world. Do you accept?"

Helga lowered her head and thought over everything that happened since she had read that dumb poem: the car wreck, the hurt students, Phoebe, Arnold… The girl set her jaw and nodded. Moirai smiled as her stolla coiled around her right arm which she extended and rested on the top of Helga's head. The girl felt hot- burning even – and a pain filled cry leapt from her throat. Moirai pulled back and looked the girl over. "I feared as much, your body cannot handle this power…" She closed her eyes in thought for a moment. "…if it is only temporary…" she mumbled to herself while looking Helga up and down. "Quickly, I need an item you will possess at all times."

Helga clumsily withdrew her Arnold locket and held it out with both hands. Moirai grasped her hands and the locket as the stolla circled around the connection slowly before wrapping tightly. The girl gasped at the tingling that danced over her body. "You shall have weapons and myself to aide you, though I can only speak to you in dreams. You will know what to do when the time is right, but now, I am afraid, it is time for you to awaken."

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Helga's eyes shot open with the beeping of her alarm clock screeching in her ears. She swatted the alarm off and sat up on her bed slowly. "What a dream…" she muttered as she got ready for school. She slipped on her jumper and brushed her pigtails, setting the pink bow in its usual place on the top of her head. She nodded at her reflection and opened her top dresser drawer for the final item: her Arnold locket. She smiled and Arnold smiled back. Sighing happily and forgetting her dream, she slipped the locket into her dress and shrugged off the temporary heat of the object.

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"Everyone has been having ever-such bad luck recently," Lila mused while looking around the playground. It was recess, but not many people were playing. Mr. Simmons' class was gathered around one of the tables discussing the past few days. Several students nodded at Lila's statement.

"It's like everyone turned into Eugene," Rhonda said while inspecting a recently popped seem on the side of her pants.

"What do you mean by that?" Eugene asked, turning to face Rhonda and somehow tripping over his feet and smashing into the pavement. "I'm okay…"

"These occurrences are getting rather dangerous. I feel as though this is more than simple 'bad luck'." Phoebe added with a sad shake of her head, one hand touching her cast lightly. Helga's head perked up and she looked around. "Helga?" Phoebe questioned as she watched her friend look around.

"Did you guys hear something?" The blonde girl asked.

"You mean besides the impending doom of my favorite slacks?" Rhonda whined as she watched the slit on her thigh grow longer. Helga rolled her eyes. How did no one hear that? It was such a loud screech, like some kind of animal. The bell rang and everyone wandered back inside.

Helga tried to focus on the lesson, but that screech kept ringing in her ears – why was no one else saying anything about it! There weren't many wild animals in Hillwood; maybe Curly released some tenants from the zoo? Helga looked over at the boy as he bounced in his seat. She shook her head. If Curly had done something like that then he would no doubt be leading the animals on a rampage through the city. So what was it?

_'A Nyxon is a creature of darkness…'_

Helga clutched her locket through her dress and leaned forward. 'Had that dream… been real? Was it all true?' Helga glanced at Phoebe's cast and swallowed the guilt rising in her stomach. 'Is it was true, then I really did do this.' She turned forward and bite her lip. "It's my fault." She said mournfully.

"Actually, Helga, World War 1 was sparked by the assassination of the Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand."

"Huh?" Helga lifted her head to find Mr. Simmons standing right in front of her desk with the history text book in his hands. "Oh, uh, I knew that! I just meant that, um," Helga darted her eyes over her empty desk as she felt several pairs of eyes on her. "I just meant that the ability and desire to do evil is sparked by the simple intolerance in everyone's hearts." She thrust her arms out dramatically, "Why can't we all just get along?"

Mr. Simmons wiped a tear from his eye and smiled at the girl. "Why Helga, that was very insightful." He headed back to the front and Helga let out a big sigh of relief. The class silently applauded Helga's ability to think on her feet and lie through her teeth that could save her from any confrontation with the faculty.

Her victory was short lived, however, as she heard the screech again, this time, much closer. Very close. Helga trembled in her seat and tapped her foot impatiently. That lady in her dream said she would know what to do – when was that supposed to kick in? She felt an eerie presence close around her and she shuddered, shooting her hand up in the air.

"Yes, Helga?" Mr. Simmons asked.

"Mr. Simmons," she said in a slurred and meek voice, "I'm not feeling very good, can I please go to the-" she rolled her eyes up and let her body go limp slightly. She grabbed her desk and held herself up. "Can I go to the nurse please?"

Mr. Simmons rushed over with the nurses pass and helped Helga get to her feet. "Do you need any help?" He asked worriedly, forgetting that he had just talked to a completely healthy Helga a few minuets ago.

"No, I think I'll be okay. I don't want to keep anyone from the lesson." She left the room, dragging her feet slightly, and continued the charade until she was well out of sight. Helga rolled her eyes at the teacher's gullibility and raced out of the building. She screeched to a halt and ducked behind a dumpster. She saw it. It looked different from the one she saw the other day, but it could only be a Nyxon. Helga peaked her head out and wondered if other people could see them. Its form was fading in and out as it moved towards the playground. "Great," Helga whispered harshly, "how am I supposed to fight something I can't see?" She stopped. "How am I supposed to fight it at all! Moirai said I would have weapons… where are they!" She then remembered that the woman had done something to her locket and she pulled it out. She stared at its smiling face but did not smile back. She was supposed to know what to do – why did nothing come?

Helga held the locket closely to her chest and shut her eyes tightly. She had to do it, somehow, she had to fight and defeat that creature. She had to fix what she did, she had to protect everyone. Letters formed in her mind and she held the locket tightly while mouthing the word silently. The locket turned hot in her hand and she grew confident, standing up and opening her eyes while saying the word louder. "Agapao."

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End chapter 2

--Melete-Mneme-Aoede-- : You may be able to see a theme here. It runs throughout the whole story so bare with it, okay? Next time: the transformation.


	3. Transformed

Magical Girl Pretty Helga

By MuseX3 --Melete-Mneme-Aoede--

Disclaimer:_ see chap 1_

Authors note: Finally! Helga's first fight! Well, her first magical girl fight anyways. ;

Sorry for the long wait! Finals are no fun!

(If you want to see a picture of Helga in her magical girl get up, let me know and I'll post a link to one (it will be in typical anime-shoujo style (as I can draw nothing else!)).)

Chapter 3: Transformed

When the blinding light finally faded, Helga opened her eyes and placed a hand on her chest to steady her racing heart – the explosion of light from the normal looking locket had scared her half-to death! She froze and patted her hand against her chest, or rather, her breasts. Helga was very confused; she was too young to be… developed. She looked down at her hands, her longer and oddly white-finger-less-gloved hands with a Heart-shaped gem on the left. She had some type of pink bracers on her arms and a gold cuff of some kind with a heart shape cut out of it on her left upper arm. There was a frilly, ruffled, white top with the sleeves, if you could call a strip of ruffled fabric a sleeve, below her shoulders. She had on a pink breast plate shaped like a heart that wrapped around her torso, exposing her flat stomach – she didn't see how that counted as armor of any kind. She wore a pink, pleated mini skirt with a lacy white skirt exposed beneath, a bow in back, and a… what was that lacey thing on her left thigh? She wore white high-heeled boots – hardly battle ready – with pink shin protectors over that. From what she could tell without looking in a mirror, Helga was also wearing a choker, earrings, and a ribbon around her head which tied off into a bow in back. She could only assume it was pink. Her hair was still in pigtails but higher on her head and much softer, flowing down past her shoulders instead of straight out from her head.

Helga shook her head. She was older and in a very impractical fighting get-up. She would need to have a talk with Moirai about this. The screeching call of the Nyxon shook her out of her little inspection. She would talk with Moirai later; she had bigger fish to fry right now.

Rushing out from behind the dumpster, Helga gritted her teeth and prepared to yell at the creature but, being unused to even _walking_ in high heels, Helga's heel slid to the side and she fell over, announcing her presence but not the way she had wanted to. The fully visible Nyxon was over her in an instant, reaching a long hand out to the girl. Helga whipped her arms up and grabbed one of the large fingers, jerking down in an attempt to break it or at least dislocate the thing. To her surprise, she not only broke the finger, but slammed the creature to the ground. Had she been given strength along with this crazy outfit? She smirked and jumped to her feet, much more balanced this time in her boots, and kicked the swirling black creature which sent it toppling backwards.

"This is kinda fun," Helga smirked as she kicked and punched the Nyxon around the playground. The Nyxon's eyes shown suddenly and Helga jumped back slightly in surprise but that hardly mattered as her body was sent through the air and smacked against the side of the school. "Okay," Helga groaned as she picked herself off the ground, "Not fun anymore." She looked around and checked her person for one of those weapons that Moirai had spoken of. Nothing. "Dang it! Where are they?" Helga clenched her hands and gave them one good shake. "I need a gun, or sword or something because I don't think kicking this thing around is going to stop it."

Her left hand started throbbing and she looked at it, thinking it had been injured. The heart gem on her hand was pulsating and glowing slightly. Helga studied it and squinted into the gem – it looked like there was a mini sword in there. The girl looked up as the Nyxon got to its feet and shook its head, she needed to hurry. The gem kept throbbing to the point it almost hurt and Helga clasped a hand over it to make it stop. To her surprise, she didn't grab the gem but the hilt of a sword. She pulled her hand back and gapped at the translucent blade in her hand but could spent little time studying it as the Nyxon charged at her.

Having never used a sword before, Helga gripped the hilt with both hands and pulled it back over her right shoulder, spreading her legs into a firm stance and waited for her target. "Batter up." She smirked as the creature came in range and swung the sword out, the edge leading, and sliced smoothly through the head of the Nyxon. Helga expected a splash of blood or some resistance from the bone but received neither as the creature slumped to the ground and evaporated away like a shadow in the sunlight. Helga looked at the clear sword and a name came to her mind. "Ilios Blade…" The sword flared with light and disappeared from Helga's hand. She blinked and looked around. Everything looked normal, well, except for her.

The girl rushed behind the dumpster again and tried to figure out how to get back to normal. "Uh, let's see." Helga scratched her head and tried to think. "What did I do to get like this in the first place? I said something… what was it? Agapao… what the heck is that?" She growled and stomped her foot. "Why should you have to say a command word to go back? That's stupid! Why can't I just think about myself being normal and then-" Helga paused. "Did everything just get bigger?" She looked at herself and sighed in relief – she was normal again. "Guess all I had to do _was_ think about it." She laughed and walked back into the building happily just as the lunch bell rang. She did it. She defeated one of those chaos things. She didn't know how many there were, but if they all went down like that first guy then she would be done in no time.

Helga walked into the cafeteria after grabbing her lunch from her locker and sat down at the usual table. She looked around confused at the empty side of the room. "Where is everybody?" She turned around and found Gerald standing on top of a chair with one foot on the table and practically everyone crowded around him. Helga rolled her eyes and opened her lunch box. "Tall hair boy probably got some new urban legend." She opened her mouth to take a bite of her sandwich when Gerald started his tale.

"The room shook like a freight train crashed into the wall and we all got out of our seats to check it out. Instead of a train, we found a blonde-haired vixen pick herself off the ground and stare down a creature of such evil that its own body could not contain it, black blue and white swirling around like the night sky reflected in the bay."

Helga's sandwich slid back into her lunch box and her mouth remained open without having tasted the peanut butter treat. 'He can't be… he isn't talking about my fight, is he?' Helga turned around slowly with her hands still up as if she was holding her sandwich.

"The woman's golden hair bounced around her and she checked herself for injuries until she raised her hand, beckoning the beast forward. The woman pulled from her own hand a sword of gleaming light and waited until the last moment to strike out and cut off the creatures head – a sword of light against a creature of darkness. The beast fell over and vanished into thin air as if it had never been. The woman lifted her sword into the air in a declaration of victory and then, it too vanished. The woman left then, no doubt to fight more of the evil creatures terrorizing our fair city like invisible shadows."

The students clapped and whistled and Gerald gave a bow to his audience. Helga still sat in her chair, utterly dumbfounded. 'Okay so they saw me for a few minutes, no big deal, right? I mean, they don't know it was _me_.' She smiled slightly and shook her head. She was suddenly glad that Moirai had to make her older – who could suspect little Helga of being that blonde 'vixen'. Helga blushed slightly and picked up the sandwich she hadn't realized she dropped and wondered what Arnold had thought of the older her.

"Her fashion sense was a bit off, I must say, but I commend her on her fighting skills." Rhonda explained with a toss of her hair after school. "It was as if Valentine's Day _exploded_ on her." Helga silently agreed and remembered that she needed to bring that up with Moirai. She had half a mind to take a nap right then to find out.

"I don't know," Arnold quietly said with a light blush on his cheeks. "I kind of liked her outfit." Okay, maybe she'd put off that discussion.

"Of course _you_ do, you're a guy, Arnold." Rhonda rolled her eyes and looked at the other boys. "I suppose you all liked it too, right? I mean, a short skirt and hardly a top to speak of – and what was with that garter on her leg!"

'Aha!' Helga thought, 'That's what it was!'

"You're just mad because you're not the center of attention," Nadine said with a wave of her hand. Rhonda's face reddened quickly to match her shirt and she huffed before storming down the street. "Oh come on, Rhonda, don't be such a drama queen." Nadine called after her friend as she hurried to catch up.

"Who do you think it was?" Harold asked the remaining group as they entered Gerald's field.

"I dun know," Stinky drawled, "but she sure was purtty." Helga hid her blush by pretending to be adjusting her catchers mask. She really wished that she could have gotten a better look at herself.

"Got me," Gerald shrugged. "I've never seen her before. I think I would have remembered."

"Would you have remembered if she was wearing normal clothes?" Sid asked skeptically.

"Well, maybe not." Gerald admitted sheepishly. "But man, she had some _curves_ on her." Helga's face reddened again, but not from embarrassment, from anger. She heard the boys whispering and commenting on the mystery woman's body. It was… degrading! She wondered if punching the living-daylights out of Gerald would give her away.

"Come on guys, cut it out." Arnold sighed and shook his head. "For one thing, that's degrading, and for another there's a girl right here. Show a little courtesy." Helga smiled under the mask and pulled it off, her back to the boys. Of course her beloved Arnold would stand up for her, both of her.

"Ah," Harold slapped a hand through the air and rolled his eyes. "It's not a girl, its just _Heeeelga_."

Said 'not girl' spun around and threw the catcher mask at Harold, beaming him in the head and sending him backwards. Her shoulders rose and fell as she panted angrily and her face matched the emotion. She didn't say anything, just gritted her teeth and stormed away from the baseball field as quickly as she could. She heard someone call after her but didn't stop or turn around, she just kept on marching down the sidewalk. She stepped into the street and instantly felt a set of hands grab her wrist and tug her back. She fell over and landed on her capture just as a truck whizzed by the crossing.

"It was red!" Arnold scolded as he panted for breath. He had to run to get to Helga in time. The girl blinked a few times as she lay on top of Arnold before quickly rolling off and sitting on the sidewalk next to him. Arnold sighed and sat up too. "I know what Harold said really hurt you, but you have to pay more attention."

Helga scoffed. "Yeah, I'm all teary inside. Besides, with the way things have been going lately it wouldn't have mattered what color the light was. Chaos is without reason."

"Huh?" Arnold asked and Helga waved a hand, signaling for him to ignore it. The boy shook his head and stood up, offering a hand to Helga, which she accepted, and pulled her up too. "Listen Helga, I just want you to know that we do know you're a girl." Helga gave him a skeptical look. "Fine," he sighed, "at least _I_ know you're a girl and think of you as one." He smiled as Helga's lips began to do the same and he turned to head back, giving a little wave as he left.

Helga smiled and ducked into an alley, reaching into her dress to pull out her locket as the sonnet began pouring out of her. "Oh Arnold, my guardian angel, my-" she paused and dug deeper into her dress as panic began to shape in her mind. "Where's my locket? What happened to it?" Thinking back, she last had it in her hands before that transformation but afterwards… she had been too startled by her appearance at the time to notice, but the locket was gone. Helga slid down the side of the alley and hugged her knees. She felt an unfamiliar weight dangling from her neck and hitting her leg. Her hands went to the object and held it up: a small pink heart-shaped pendant lined in gold with a gold oval in the center hung on a chain around her neck. She had never seen it before and _definitely_ didn't put it on. Turning the pendant in her hands, she found a tiny hinge and opened what she now realized was a locket. She gasped in surprise and sighed in relief at the same time at the smaller version of Arnold's picture and her own inscription stared back at her. She was a little sad that her old locket was gone, but at least this way she wouldn't drop it as much and could be a whole lot less conspicuous with her poetic ramblings.

00000000000000000000000

End chapter 3

--Melete-Mneme-Aoede--: Alright, I confess, I borrowed the gem-sword idea from CLAMP – Magic Knight Rayearth just had such a good idea that I HAD to use it. The women at CLAMP don't mind, I'm sure. –looks around nervously-

And so Helga finds one of the down sides of being a magical girl – too hot for her own good in skimpy clothing. How will Moirai explain herself for that frilly get-up? FIND OUT NEXT TIME! Hurrah!


End file.
